1. 8/10 (what is this saying... probably the song I was most lyrically interested in)
@sethmadsen, quite a challenge to describe it briefly, but I'll try:
Zrzuty ("Airdrops") is the third track off the album Powstanie Warszawskie by Lao Che (2005), which tells the story of tragic Warsaw Uprising of 1944 (I won't go into details here, but if you're interested, here's the Wiki link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising). That was when the modern history of Poland actually began and this is why I wanted to start the playlist with Lao Che.
Now for the lyrics. The title (Airdrops) refers to supplies from Western Allies that were supposed to be provided by means of aircrafts. For many different reasons (German anti-aircraft warfare, political hesitations of western countries, Soviet reluctance to provide airports, poor visibility over Warsaw) it never went the way it should have, and so the partisans of Warsaw generally felt they were left on their own.
It's an interplay between different voices of the Uprising participants
Polish General (?) talking on the radio
Jako lotnicy okryci chwałą w dywizjonach lotniczych i bombardujących As pilots covered with glory in aircraft and bombarding squadrons
>>> Trying to motivate soldiers
Polish partisans responding in male/female chorus
Nie nasza rzecz, nasza rzecz - naszą robić rzecz It's not our thing. Our thing is to do our thing
>>> We don't give a damn about general's pompous words, we're here to fight as we were told to.
German soldiers commenting on Polish partisans
Verfluchten polnischen, polnischen
partisanen, banditen, banditen. Damned Polish partisans, bandits.
>>> The partisans were officially announced as "bandits" by German authorities.
Radio broadcast from London countered by a voice from the streets of Warsaw Halo, halo, tutaj Londyn, tutaj Londyn
Ona czarna, a on blondyn, a on blondyn Hello, hello, it's London,
She's dark-haired and he's blonde
>>> My word, this one's tough 😄 Warsaw partisans expected material and military help from the Western Europe (particularly from London, where the Polish government resided during World War II), but what they mostly got was radio broadcasts from London. Not coincidentally (?) a nod towards London Calling by The Clash as well 😉
So, since the words London and blonde guy rhyme in Polish, this one's a surreal mocking response of partisans to the fact of getting another radio broadcast instead of supplies... Hope it makes sense.
Polish partisan Myślę sobie, zważ robaczku w czym się moczysz
Trach, pif, paf, bum i do Bozi i do Bozi I think to myself - look, worm, how little you are,
Crash, bang, bang, boom ! And on your way to god
>>> This is obviously a partisan reflecting on his own fragility during the uprising. One shot and you're dead. Between 150,000-200,000 Polish civilians and 10,000-16,000 partisans were killed over 2 months of the Uprising.
The words on your way to god are then repeated a number of times against a descending power chord progression which sounds much more like going to hell, actually.
The middle part:
Voice reading a secret telegram Bardzo pilne... Bardzo tajne... Do Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej wysyła Łubieński. Początek. Very urgent... Very secret... To the President of the Republic of Poland, sent by Łubieński. The Beginning.
>>> Telegram informing the President of Poland residing in London that the Uprising has begun.
The second part repeats a number of lines, on to:
Collective voice of Polish partisans Słuchaj Londyn, nam nie trzeba audycji
My żądamy amunicji, amunicji! Listen London, we want no broadcasts,
What we need is ammunition !
>>> This is self-explanatory, I guess.
and the ending goes:
Dialogue between partisans Jak tam u was? - jest spokojnie jak na wojnie
tu pierdolnie, tam pierdolnie znów spokojnie
Jeb, jeb, jeb! How are things ? As quiet as a war,
BOOM here, BANG there and quiet again - BANG, BANG, BANG !!!
>>> Just a lively, sound-imitating description of everyday reality of the Uprising - explosions, gunshots... and all quiet again. "Alright" says a voice with British accent, and the song is over.
Wow, this is amazing. Thank you for spending the time to help me understand.
You actually reminded me of one of my most favorite listening experiences. I was in high school and 9/11 had just happened. My music teacher reacted in the best way than anyone else. Instead of making us play... he started doing this listening experience. It started off with listening to music from the Middle East. He would say, you know what kills racism... food and music. If you can like their food and music and enjoy their humanity... it breaks down any other barrier.
Anyway... he did that for a while, but then somehow that morphed into listening to Led Zeppelin and other artists.
I remember also he played a piece from a Polish composer (I'm REALLY wishing my memory of 15 years ago was good right now) that I can't remember and I can't remember if it was based on this same thing or something else, but it was WWII related. Anyway it was one of the most sorrowful pieces of music I've ever heard. If a famous Polish composer of that era comes to mind let me know!
Other thing was he forced us to listen to this more intently by turning off the lights. One of the best experiences of my life.
Also isn't Nyet (spelling) no? I vaguely remember learning that from Russian at least.
RoundTheBendI miss the comfort in being sadProfile Ground Control
Glad you liked it. I thought it would be a good counterpoint for Lao Che war song :)
Now I get that... thanks again! I love the Internets sometimes. It really is a playground for the world to come together with hippies... I mean... hehe... no seriously it is great.
Grzywa wrote:
Yeah, this one and no. 4 are based on Polish folk melodies.
In other "traditional" music I'm familiar with, the credit given to the writer is often "traditional" or at least says based on melody or whatever... first comes to mind is the Quaker melody "Simple Gifts" used by Weezer and Aaron Copland (many others), same kind of idea here? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Gifts
Grzywa wrote:
Indeed, this is a post-punk track from 1985, but not the re-make I mentioned. Joy Division is the right guess, but... not for this track :P
Ah man... you gotta let us know now... unless you think someone will guess it right.
You actually reminded me of one of my most favorite listening experiences. I was in high school and 9/11 had just happened. My music teacher reacted in the best way than anyone else. Instead of making us play... he started doing this listening experience. It started off with listening to music from the Middle East. He would say, you know what kills racism... food and music. If you can like their food and music and enjoy their humanity... it breaks down any other barrier.
A smart guy he was. Being partly a teacher myself, I could do nothing but admire what he did.
sethmadsen wrote:
I remember also he played a piece from a Polish composer (I'm REALLY wishing my memory of 15 years ago was good right now) that I can't remember and I can't remember if it was based on this same thing or something else, but it was WWII related. Anyway it was one of the most sorrowful pieces of music I've ever heard. If a famous Polish composer of that era comes to mind let me know!
I'm pretty sure this must have been Symphony no. 3 by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, which became a surprising hit in 1992, climbing to Top 10 on UK mainstream charts (sic !) and overall selling more copies than any other contemporary classical music record. You will find a number of renditions of this symphony on Spotify:
In other "traditional" music I'm familiar with, the credit given to the writer is often "traditional" or at least says based on melody or whatever... first comes to mind is the Quaker melody "Simple Gifts" used by Weezer and Aaron Copland (many others), same kind of idea here? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Gifts
Good question. Obercology by ATOM String Quartet is a pastiche of Polish national dance called "oberek", whereas Kapela ze Wsi Warszawa uses directly traditional rural melodies, but combines them with more contemporary influences (psychedelic, trance) and elements of folk from other parts of the world (like the song on the playlist, Leeeć, which features Mercedes Peon, a folk singer from Galicia in Spain).
sethmadsen wrote:
Ah man... you gotta let us know now... unless you think someone will guess it right.
OK, won't keep you waiting. Koniec Kryzysu by Pustki, which you happened to rate 10/10, is a re-make of Passover by Joy Division. Not a cover, for the only elements left from the original are the vocal line and part of the lyrics (translated into Polish and sung by a woman). Disguised a bit 😜 _________________ Always shouts out something obscene
meccaleccaVoice of ReasonProfile The Land of Enchantment
OK, won't keep you waiting. Koniec Kryzysu by Pustki, which you happened to rate 10/10, is a re-make of Passover by Joy Division. Not a cover, for the only elements left from the original are the vocal line and part of the lyrics (translated into Polish and sung by a woman). Disguised a bit :P
Aha. There was something very familiar about this track but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
All in all, this was a great mix. A lot of variation from track to track and yet it felt like a cohesive experience. I'll need to listen again when not working, so I can focus a bit more on individual tracks _________________ http://jonnyleather.com
RoundTheBendI miss the comfort in being sadProfile Ground Control
A smart guy he was. Being partly a teacher myself, I could do nothing but admire what he did.
I'm pretty sure this must have been Symphony no. 3 by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, which became a surprising hit in 1992, climbing to Top 10 on UK mainstream charts (sic !) and overall selling more copies than any other contemporary classical music record. You will find a number of renditions of this symphony on Spotify:
Also... the sincerity of the music totally is what I remember... and I do remember a lot of double bass... but it's been so long and I only heard it in his class, it's hard to say this was it for certain. I thought he said it was written around the 40s... but it could have been just simply looking back at that time.
I have to say this has been one of the most educational/insightful and most "human" thread and REALLY appreciate learning more about your culture.
I'll be honest, Americans are typically pretty ignorant (I once played at a small festival, and this country singer said, "Mericuh... the greatest country in the whole United States".... hahahahaha... I kid you not.
The attitude often wrongfully is: our own culture is the only culture worth learning... so world music is typically for people that always burn copious amounts of incense (prejudice I just made up, haha)... and although there's music ranging from Gypsy Kings to Sigor Ros that I genuinely love... I'm not constantly on the look for music from other cultures all the time. It's easy for us to get stuck in our WASP culture (I think Catholics are cool too though... hehe, just making fun of the Acronym) and not giving enough time/appreciation to anything else. So again, much appreciated.
Also... the sincerity of the music totally is what I remember... and I do remember a lot of double bass... but it's been so long and I only heard it in his class, it's hard to say this was it for certain. I thought he said it was written around the 40s... but it could have been just simply looking back at that time.
Górecki's 3rd would still be my guess, considering the impact it made in the Anglo-Saxon world. The symphony was actually written in 1976, but its second movement was directly inspired by a message written on the wall of a cell in German Gestapo prison - maybe that's where the 1940s reference comes from ?
sethmadsen wrote:
I have to say this has been one of the most educational/insightful and most "human" thread and REALLY appreciate learning more about your culture.
I'll be honest, Americans are typically pretty ignorant (I once played at a small festival, and this country singer said, "Mericuh... the greatest country in the whole United States".... hahahahaha... I kid you not.
The attitude often wrongfully is: our own culture is the only culture worth learning... so world music is typically for people that always burn copious amounts of incense (prejudice I just made up, haha)... and although there's music ranging from Gypsy Kings to Sigor Ros that I genuinely love... I'm not constantly on the look for music from other cultures all the time. It's easy for us to get stuck in our WASP culture (I think Catholics are cool too though... hehe, just making fun of the Acronym) and not giving enough time/appreciation to anything else. So again, much appreciated.
Thanks for the kind words, that was precisely my idea, to throw some light on stuff that rarely if ever gets any attention.
That being said, I seem to be precisely as prejudiced as Americans are: 86 out of 100 albums on my overall chart are American or British...
Even compiling this 10-track playlist was a challenge, because I'm not as well listened in the stuff from my own country as I should be, especially over the last couple of years. So I'm glad I took it up, and maybe will continue in this way or another.
On the other hand, making a playlist of American/English songs would just be a case of being spoilt for choice 😉 _________________ Always shouts out something obscene
meccaleccaVoice of ReasonProfile The Land of Enchantment
[quote="Grzywa"]Górecki's 3rd would still be my guess, considering the impact it made in the Anglo-Saxon world. The symphony was actually written in 1976, but its second movement was directly inspired by a message written on the wall of a cell in German Gestapo prison - maybe that's where the 1940s reference comes from ?
Quote:
Speaking of Gorecki's 3rd. Colin Stetson just released his version and it's pretty magnificent
Speaking of Gorecki's 3rd. Colin Stetson just released his version and it's pretty magnificent
Thanks for highlighting this, man. Colin Stetson has been my hero since last year's collaboration with Sarah Neufeld, Never Were The Way She Was and I'm sure this will be awesome. Will check it out the first time I'm in the mood 😉 _________________ Always shouts out something obscene
meccaleccaVoice of ReasonProfile The Land of Enchantment
Thanks for highlighting this, man. Colin Stetson has been my hero since last year's collaboration with Sarah Neufeld, Never Were The Way She Was and I'm sure this will be awesome. Will check it out the first time I'm in the mood ;)
Yeah, Colin is just incredible. his second solo album blew my mind, and i've been a fan ever since. definitely know what you mean about being in the mood. I've only listened once so far, because it's an intense piece of music _________________ http://jonnyleather.com
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